Visual Arts

Stomata draws on the experience of Bagus Pandega (Indonesia) during the COVID-19 pandemic where there was shortage of medical oxygen. This mixed media installation at the Esplanade Concourse simulates the process of generating oxygen while contemplating the impact of man’s actions on nature and communities. The work is a reflection on the value of natural resources, and the precarious balance between progress and environmental preservation.

At Jendela (Visual Arts Space), Symbiosis explores how human life is enmeshed with the natural world, delving into entanglements between the human and non-human. Employing organic materials and embracing natural phenomena in their processes, Syaiful Garibaldi (Indonesia), Zen Teh (Singapore) and Zulkifli Lee (Malaysia) share agency with nature, uncovering narratives and facets of other living realms that are often overlooked.

Happy Valley by Pierfrancesco Celada (Italy) at the Esplanade Tunnel traces the passage of time and space through reflection and contemplation, capturing encounters and unfolding scenarios between 2014 and 2022. His exploration of Hong Kong unveils an uncanny yet familiar urban landscape within an Asian metropolis—a place of restrained emotions and unspoken murmurs waiting to be uncovered. This exhibition is co-presented by Singapore International Photography Festival and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore.

Syahrul Anuar (Singapore) delves into ideas of value and myth-making that surround our evolving relationship with the abstract phenomenon of weather. In this infinite-state machine, artworks extract live data about the weather to produce an infinite series of unpredictable states or outcomes. the infinite-state machine is weathered at the Esplanade Community Wall reflects on how we shape narratives surrounding our environment and the universe, and explores the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, lived reality and digital realms.